From Blender to VRM: Prepare your own Vtuber Model

This is meant to be a really quick overview of what's required for prepping VRM files for Vtubers or virtual avatars. It is not meant to be a beginner Blender tutorial.
Required Programs and Addons:
Blender: www.blender.org/
Unity: unity3d.com
Cats Blender Plugin: github.com/GiveMeAllYourCats/...
Unity VRM Package: github.com/vrm-c/UniVRM/releases
Patreon: / priichu
Twitter: / priichu
0:00 Introduction
0:05 Auto Rigging
0:46 CATS
1:14 Shape Keys
2:29 Export Your FBX
2:40 Importing to Unity
3:00 Configure your Rig
3:28 Materials And Shaders
3:49 First Export
4:33 VRM Settings
5:02 Blendshapes and Expressions
6:02 Spring Bones
7:06 Final Export
8:01 Test your model
8:22 End
Music: フリーBGM「REI-MEI (黎明)

[@okaybutwhythough7456]

That's cool and all, but can we talk about how well designed and adorable the model is?

[@IaconDawnshire]

I actually like that model

[@okaybutwhythough7456]

@Nicolas Corbin This is the second time I got this nearly exact same reply. What the hell.

[@Blockistium]

i kind of dream of commissioning this person of something in this style tbh

[@cdlizard]

it looks so beautiful and the character fits so well into the low poly style because of how simple it is, yet isn't bland to look at :')

[@kimmyera174]

The person commonly makes models like this, i found them on pinterest at first. been subscribed since :3

[@NiemandKatzchen]

This is a really good tutorial. Very clear and doesn't have a bunch of wasted time. Actually shows how to correct the common issues instead of just mentioning that they can happen.

[@IceCattus]

I wish all tutorials on youtube were like this. Straight to the point. No BS. Chill music instead of distracting pop music. This video has it all. Great work.

[@Fatesmaster]

It's been 2 years and this is still the best tutorial for creating a custom vtuber model.

[@3pedrops]

okay, i've seen many tutorials and had many questions, you've answered all of them. Awesome tutorial!

[@danieldelorme2482]

probably best tutorial I have watched in a long time. so clean, clear and concise. Simple and to the point.

[@halpiehere2595]

I know this comment’s late but I absolutely love the use of color in your character! The cool tones against the warm skin give such a lovely contrast, not to mention I rarely see Vtubers use a model with a low-poly look. Gah, I love it so much and thank you for the great tutorial too! Keep up the awesome work c:

[@dafffodil]

Thank you for making this!! Every other VRM tutorial gets hung up on customizing and importing preconfigured characters using VRoid and stuff like that. Took me like an hour of scrubbing through other videos to discover this one. This is so incredibly useful thank you so much

[@bigboomer1013]

Every time I search for a tutorial, it's always a pre-made base anime model that you just recolor and dress up. It's very frustrating. This truly is probably the best video to find and it's better when it shows you how to edit the bones and still make it compatible for VR

[@Joe_334]

Vroid seems to mess up the rigging for the hands for me. I am debating accurig or Mixamo for the rigging.

[@nerro984]

THANK YOU SO MUCH watching this actually makes me want to actually try doing it instead of just giving up

[@Deepishpls]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I've been messing around with the idea of converting some models into .vrm but was completely stumped for a day as to how I could turn shape keys into blendshape.asset files, and this video helped a ton!

[@riccig4455]

Finally a proper tutorial on this topic! Tank you soooo much! I have been trying to import a character for over 10 hrs with 20 different apps but there was never a proper tutorial so I always got stuck :'('

[@SlySaysHiii]

Thank you so much for this tutorial, even three and a half years later I was still able to follow it 💖

[@HeyItsS0ul]

Thank you, I have spent days reading on this stuff and trying to learn how to make a model do what I wanted for v-tubing and your video helped me finally do what I was shooting for. I have created one of the single most cured v-tuber avatars ever, and I am so happy with it. Thank you so much your video was the first one to finally help me create my glorious abomination. You rock thanks again.

[@sugarydespair]

Wow this is a great tutorial!

[@user-hp6zh9jv3g]

Thank you! I was looking for such a tutorial! I also love your toon style model.

[@dynasteve1615]

Been looking all day for a video like this, thanks so much.

[@evil_in_your_closet]

As short as this was, as helpful it is! Thanks!

[@donnyisawesome]

This helped so much! I couldn't figure out where to change the shaders but you explained it in a foolproof way Thank you!

[@yukikuran4454]

Thank you so much!! I been looking for this like crazy 🥺☺️

[@AthsMehDiaz]

I already made a model in Blender got frustrated when it came to rigging so took a long break, using Mixamo OMG... seeing my model do animations and move fluidly brought the life back into me ^^

[@purplestarchild1419]

This was excellently done! Great video :D

[@roofchild2290]

this was the most useful guide i have found yet

[@MadamLava094]

I got inspired by your models and work recently and made a model for this, thank you for the inspiration

[@angeldart3D]

Thanks to this tutorial, I had a season were people hired me a lot to do this job! Thanks

[@randomarrow02]

Very well done tutorial! Super Direct! Thankyou!

[@dynasteve1615]

Subscribed!!!! Hope to see more good stuff like this

[@vd_cuddles4357]

Amazing video, super easy to follow and very informative~

[@cheesburgero]

finally a tutorial that is quick and easy and has SUBTITLES ON😃

[@SPTX.]

I've learned more in two minutes from this than an hour in an other video.

[@nickplaysrs539]

Thank you so much! I wanted to make a simple vrm model and this video was perfect guidance!

[@SpiritedSpy]

its awesome to see the cats plugin being used for more than just vrchat projects!

[@maddoxrv]

wooooow I really love everything you do I really liked that particular model !!. I can only tell you that everything you do inspires me to continue with what I like uwu. PS: sorry for the google translator xd

[@Shadybat]

@@patrickmulopo7957 its just a face

[@lesliethegoat9858]

thank you very much, I followed your instructions and successfully created my vr avatar.

[@TommyGx69]

Really good tutorial! Now i just need the motivation again to redo all this, it's not that it's too much i'm just lazy rn xD Well explained, easy to follow and nice music. 😁👌

[@andreavercetti6444]

Awesome Tutorial! It Works! Thank you very much!!

[@kittybowl2242]

thank you so much it will help me so much (in about two to three month when i'll be good-er at blender)

[@dikeythedocta471]

you are goddamn pro. I mean 8 and a half minutes of work and it will take me weeks to repeat it. Not to mention to prepare a clean mesh character - another month and head of gray hair... Danm, I wish I had a neighbour like you.

[@darkmac05]

What a wonderfull video! Thank u!

[@webemez]

Omg this model is so cute

[@Laceybani]

thank you for a consise tutorial! I hate all the extra fluff when I'm wanting to learn. 10/10 would reccomend

[@swinetower]

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! yeessssss

[@TheMiscellanousmaker]

Great tutorial learnt a lot of skills 😁

[@DW_69]

Thanks. VRM seems to have updated and is a bit different but this was still helpful.

[@buzzrapide]

Thank you very much for the tutorial it helped a lot

[@netyimeni169]

it was information I've lack for long time and was afraid to start making my own model. thank you for such a good tutorial. maybe you should've added eye tracking here too but ok.

[@Priichu3D]

I wanted it to be a quick tutorial but I'll see if I can make a simple eye tracking video at some point, it's not too hard!

[@patricki1422]

So talented!

[@TheGeneralAshton]

Love the tutorial and definitely going to use this later down the road! Do you have any recommendations to sources to learn how to make character models? I've dabbled with Blender but only have tackled how to make inanimate objects (buildings, ships, bottles, etc), so stepping into making things like a character model to be rigged is a little daunting for me.

[@Priichu3D]

Learning how to make inanimate objects is a good first step! I honestly recommend looking up character modeling tutorials on youtube just to get the idea of the basics and studying models that you enjoy! Start simple and work your way up to more detailed models

[@sneepsnorp3d]

Does anybody know how to make parts of the model move in response to audio input like Priichu's avatar? :0 I'm wondering if there's a script somewhere out there I can use or how that's done

[@Priichu3D]

This video explains the steps I went through to get that working

[@sneepsnorp3d]

@@Priichu3D aojsdfioafsd thank you!! i've watched this tutorial so many times, i probably skipped passed it before when i didn't need to know and never realized haha- thank you! this tutorial's so helpful

[@WerrinLotsuvhats]

awesome video thanks a lot. helped a ton

[@TheWarningRockBand]

cool tutorial

[@dulur-si-cepot]

so cool,,its really help me thx u

[@aieu_.n]

This is the best tutorial I have ever seen! But one more question: how do you get the mouth tracking? Hope to get your answer!

[@ITZABIRD]

Blendshapes

[@freckledcatcreations]

ohhhhh my gosh, thank you SOOO much for this. seems like it's got nearly everything I was looking for, concise and easy to follow. adorable character btw

[@Priichu3D]

You can either rig the eyes with bones or add some blendshapes for eyesup,down,left,right and then there should be an eye tracking option in Unity where you can assign these. The setting is called like "look at bone"

[@freckledcatcreations]

@@Priichu3D thank you so much!

[@hansenthen7387]

Thanks! You're the best!

[@bigspookums3130]

Super Helpful TYSM

[@freakmindtoo]

HI, Priichu, You now if there is any problem if you try to use a pbr material a bit more complex with roughness and bump maps on it, for a vrm file? Thanks for this awesome material and thank you

[@livelively3845]

Thank you very much!

[@cowna8906]

awesome tutorial, really helping out a lot and I love how to the point it is. I am having a few issues with unity that I hope some of yall have a fix for, namely the only VRM shader it lets me select is toon, and also unity dosen't import my image textures for some reason.

[@Priichu3D]

If unity isn't automatically importing your images you can manually assign them in your materials. Just drag and drop your textures into your unity project folder first

[@cowna8906]

@@Priichu3D thank you! worked like a charm

[@kaijin5996]

Salvation Thank you very much for this great tutorial🤩 I have a question, I have a separate mesh body, teeth and tongue. When I go to edit I can only move the body. I don't know what to do, do you have to parent the meshes or other things to be able to move them together or do you have to recreate a basis for each object each time?

[@qualitycenter9700]

Hello, thanks for the tutorial uwu

[@AnotherCoyote]

Great video! But the VRM unity packages only worked for me in one of my projects, and now won't work at all or make the VRM export drop-down menu appear at the top at all in my other projects I drag and drop them into. Don't suppose there is a newer, better VRM exporter package available that works better with Unity v2019 or whatever?

[@GregAtlas]

Building my own model now and haven't gotten to the rigging point yet, but I was curious on if particle effects are supported in VSeeFace? Like lets say you wanted sparklers or fireworks or lasers shooting out of your hair for example?

[@jameswild266]

Hmm. This is a great tutorial, very easy to follow, but I think the Unity VRM tools have changed quite a lot and have added a few minor speedbumps here and there. My only shader option in the VRM set is "MToon" - none of the others are there. That's not so bad though, I can use emission/etc. to emulate the unit shader. The "VRM" -> "UniVRM-0.51.0" -> "Export Humanoid" menu now appears to be "VRM0" -> "Export to VRM 0.x". When doing this the first time it will complain a lot about a missing "meta object". Seems you can ignore these warnings. It defaulted to a random folder when exporting the VRM - make sure you navigate to your Unity project's Assets folder before exporting. Thanks!

[@Priichu3D]

Yeah, the VRM package has changed but I haven't updated my package since UniVRM 0.70.0 so I'm not sure what the changes would be! I'll have to check out the new package sometime

[@avgirlaustintx]

thank you!

[@mottley4940]

I'm almost done with my model, and this tutorial has actually been really helpful, but I'm just wondering where the background music is from? Would you happen to have a playlist?

[@Priichu3D]

It's royalty free music: フリーBGM「REI-MEI (黎明)

[@mottley4940]

@@Priichu3D thanks very much!

[@superwiidude]

you have such a super cute model UwU

[@flyann]

Hey Priichu, I've been facing an issue where the spring bone for my character works as intended in Unity, but in VseeFace or other software, it stretches out and glitches and feels like it has its own position in gravity. I feel like I followed all the steps correctly, do you have any idea of what the problem may be? Thank you!

[@flyann]

Solved: My Spring bones weren't properly parented to my head!

[@littleNorwegians]

7:09 You add a "blinker script" here. Question; Can you do custom code stuff in Unity and have it work inside of the Vtuber software or? Great tutorial btw.

[@bunnyshade6112]

Most vtuber software will already have blinking available as long as you make that blendshape. for instance, VMagic Mirror can auto blink for you.

[@CrimsongCatDev]

Hi, this video is awesome, really helped me a lot with my avatar! Hope you can help me with an issue: I dont have body/hand tracking but i want to make the avatar change the body pose (like the expressions but with the whole body in a static pose) my question is, theres a way to do this? ty!

[@Nekotico]

cool, how did u set multiple materials? when i do the first export on the vrm to set the expresions.....it lose the multiple textures, i have 2, but....the rest its just gone..

[@sharpieton]

Wow thanks

[@TomCAT_Character_Art]

Great Video! Subbed. How would you go about rigging eyes for eye tracking?

[@ITZABIRD]

Adding eye bones in blender

[@shim2822]

Your model is so good! How did you make it? Do you have tutorial to make something similar?

[@Priichu3D]

Thank you! I have a few timelapse videos for other models here, but may consider recording myself modeling something like this in the near future

[@mightyfreshmeat9661]

You're saving me a lot of headaches. Quick question: I don't intend on using the arms, nor the lower body, can I model only the upper body of the avatar? or does it need to be a complete body? Thanks!

[@Priichu3D]

I think removing any of the bones from the rig might cause issues since it needs to be classified as "humanoid". I haven't personally tried it, but maybe you can get away with it if you still include the bones for the full body? Please let me know if it works or not!

[@socialfreak6900]

i believe you can model just a head with shoulders but you will have to add bones for the rest of the body even if it doesnt exist, most vtubers have full models but everything below the chest is mostly unused

[@ThatHippyDuck]

I think the naming conventions was changed with CATS plugin on my model, but the fingers still carry "Mixamo" prefix on the bones. must have to change those manually i hope.

[@StarCourtesan]

You should totally make an updated version of this tutorial!

[@Priichu3D]

I will eventually! There's definitely a lot of stuff that changed or I could do better, so it's a bit outdated. Still works for the basics though!

[@StarCourtesan]

@@Priichu3D Yes its super helpful :D

[@iAmLauRawr]

Hi thank you for the tutorial! Im currently looking through the veseeface manual. Is there a reason you didnt set up the "SIL, CH, DD, FF, KK, NN, PP, RR, SS, TH" shape keys? Im new to everything and dont want to waste time setting them up if it causes issues.

[@Priichu3D]

You don't need them to create basic mouth movements in your character. But if you wanted more control over how the mouth moves when pronouncing "CH, FF, DD, etc" then you can include those. But it's not necessary at all!

[@fuyumilockheart8242]

I kinda have a problem where I can't export the model. It shows that colliders are missing.. What do I do tho is what I can't figure out..

[@jonathanvilario5402]

How did you add bones to the armature? Whenever I try adding bones in edit mode, I can't seem to reweight them so that they're skinned to the mesh. The Mixamo armature works fine, but I can't add bones to the armature

[@rekonener2362]

Love the tutorial, I just have one question. Can the Vtuber model be made up of several separate models? Like, can the eyes, hair, body, etc all be separate, and not one object? If so, is it possible to have shape keys carry across to different objects?

[@Priichu3D]

I think it's recommended that they all be on one mesh. You can model them separately and then just combine them at the end before exporting

[@rekonener2362]

@@Priichu3D Darn, I was hoping to have to not retexture everything. Oh well, Blender just updated and now CATS doesn't work, lol. Thank you for the reply.

[@tomasaldazabal219]

Amazing video, can you please tell me how can i do the blinker script?

[@LucasInTheMiddle]

I made a few extra shape key expressions. Like Sleepy and crying, however when I hopped over to VSeeFace it would only show the basic emotions. Can I not add more blend clips to VSeeFace?

[@Priichu3D]

You can add extra shapekeys in unity during the blendshape portion. If you don't add them here vseeface won't recognize them

[@SirPeibol]

This tutorial was very helpfull. But I have a problem when I want to set blendshapes. The mesh or something get distorted. For example, when I set "AA", when the avatar open his mouth, it gets all black; when he blinks, arround the eyes gets all black; etc.

[@ITZABIRD]

Did u find out why

[@zettanmaco]

Thanks for the very informative video. My question is, when I run the Fix Model, the textures are corrupted, is there a solution? If you could answer it I would appreciate it.

[@user-lo6nx6fo7i]

it helped me tnx

[@TonyNoto]

at 5:10 when they say double click on blendshapes to open expressions, my model doesn't have a preview in the bottom right hand corner, it's just a gray box and I cant see any of my expressions or Shape Keys I made in Blender. It looks like the files are there but when I click on them its just a gray box in the Inspector. help!?

[@thecasualfriday8770]

I was wondering about shape key mouth animations. I'm looking to give a motion-tracking character a mouth that looks stop-motion, so when they speak they go from one full shape to another without transition. (Think something like southpark?) If I wanted to do that for a character's mouth how might I go about it?

[@Priichu3D]

Depending on what program you use for your VRM you should be able to disable animation smoothing. For example, VseeFace lets me lower smoothing on parts like the mouth and blinking to give it more of that animated/stop motion look

[@biancamarsh1044]

Hey! this tutorial is excellent! I do have one issue though. I have a hair bone that i want to use spring bones on, but the bone swings in the wrond direction. if i move the armature left the hair swings left. is there a way to invert the swing?

[@biancamarsh1044]

never mind i think i figured it out

[@ITZABIRD]

@@biancamarsh1044 what did u do to figure it out

[@AV-fx5pl]

Thas cool´s. I followed all the guide but the blenshape in the part of standardizing them for vroid do not work for me. In the minute 05:02 . I don't know how it can be done. What can be failing? I would appreciate your help. Thanks for sharing the information

[@AV-fx5pl]

work with version 0.88

[@OkamiSho1]

Do you do commissions?

[@MARS-eb8pt]

I got a question, I'm trying to do the shape keys with a lizard model and idrk how to move those vertices on edit mode, actually, the frog im using just loook up Frog speaking chinese, its that model. Idk how to do the shape keys

[@soanfn]

I have a problem maybe someone can help me, on the Shader with the textures i don have the option UnityTexture inside the VRM tab, maybe its because theres a new version now and it works on other way?

[@ITZABIRD]

Yes

[@donbologna5486]

My Model has only 2d faces. Is there a way to move the textures of the mouth while talking and blinking? The only way I found is to use shapekeyes but i was wondering if there is another way. love your stuff :3

[@Priichu3D]

Yeah, there is a way but requires that you set up your mouth and eye textures properly. In unity you can assign textures to your blend shapes, with an offset number to tell your UVs where to go for that expression. The only thing I haven't figured out with this method is if eye tracking works

[@hinatauzumaki9225]

I installed de unity vrm package and I don't have those options :c

[@TecMacRun]

Hi @Priichu Just got a Qustion for you: Has the VRM Unity package changed in the last 1,5 years? Since i can't seem to find the Blendshape setup script in The generated VRM File. It be grate if you can help me out on that. And if it did change it would be nice if you culd make a Updatet version of your Video :D Btw Nice Avatar-Design :3

[@Priichu3D]

It definitely changes overtime so it might just be in a different place or you might want to use an older version. It's been a while since I've worked with VRMs, but I want to make an updated version of this tutorial as soon as I have the free time

[@BossKnight]

i can't export as humanoid, it doesnt exist when i click vrm

[@socialfreak6900]

will this work with characters that are rigged using rigify? or should i remove leaf bones when exporting to FBX?

[@Priichu3D]

It should work with any humanoid rig. You just need to assign the necessary deform bones in Unity and ignore any of the extras or leaf bones.

[@tommyspringfield7687]

what do i do if i cant get the export as humanoid thing since i didn't install vrm correctly

[@avianhasnodignity]

since cats doesn't work for blender 3.6, could you share the correct export settings for the fbx? thx in advance

[@chaosstripe9446]

What FBX type should you use for this? Mixamo now offers several and I am confused

[@Priichu3D]

Whatever option is the first one should be good enough

[@noahnoah7355]

U R GOD THANKS